Ukrainian Panda: My Adventures With a Very Young Lady in River City

[Rubicon]

Yes, Dnepr is a beautiful city.  I like it even better than Kiev, which is also beautiful.  And yes, that is my wife in the pic you mentioned.


I'm having a blast visiting places from "the day."  I am going to post some "then" and "now" pics to contrast the city I spent a lot of time in six years ago.

A beautiful lady, congratulations!

[nicknick]

Note to Self-- Work on Russian Language.


Yesterday a cute reporter (see pic) stopped me on the embankment of the Dnieper River to ask for an interview.  Damn.  I wish I spoke better Russian!  I would have loved to talk to her! :-)  LOL

Boy, you're lucky. 

The most I ever had was an offer from a grey haired reporter in his late fifties to do a radio interview.

About three years ago, a Russian work colleague of mine who was working over here in London was interviewed by a Russian radio journalist who lives in Tver.  The journalist was in London for a short period having been invited by the BBC World Service to do a programme on Russian expats working and living in the UK.

Suddenly, he shoved the microphone in my direction.  Well, I managed to stutter out a few phrases in Russian about how well I get on with my colleague - but whether it was ever used or not is another matter.

But, as you say, even knowing a small amount of Russian can make a huge difference.

[Simoni]

She was one hot reporter, that's for sure, NickNick. :-)


I'm sorry your opportunity featured an old grey guy!  LOL

I am watching local TV each morning here, and the weather girls are striking!

But then again, so are most girls on the street!

Uranian sure has one hell of a gene pool!

[Muzh]

Yes, Dnepr is a beautiful city.  I like it even better than Kiev, which is also beautiful.  And yes, that is my wife in the pic you mentioned.

You are one lucky dog.

[Simoni]

You are one lucky dog.

You are right, Muzh!  Thanks :-)

[Simoni]

Our daughter M is blessed--she is learning Russian and English without having to study a second language.  I always speak English to her; her mother speaks Russian to her.  At 2 1/2, she is learning both languages well.  However, I do believe this one month stay in Ukraine will be a big plus for her Russian acquisition.


She is loving her time here, and I'm sure glad to be back with her this week as I have come over on vacation.

[Simoni]

Sometimes M speaks Russian to me, but then quickly shifts to English.  I'll have to say she is helping my Russian a lot!

[Gator]

She is incredibly beautiful.  The curly hair?  I recall mama having a slight wave.
 
Love her shades -she is styling!!!

[Simoni]

Thanks, Gator :-)


I asked M's grandmother yesterday if my wife had curly hair like that at this age.  She said "da."


So I'll assume it's here for now but not forever :-)

[Anotherkiwi]

Sometimes M speaks Russian to me, but then quickly shifts to English.  I'll have to say she is helping my Russian a lot!

Simoni, why do you keep referring to her as "M"?  With all this language training, is she the new head of MI6?   
 
Seriously, she's not going to be anybody's target, so why not tell us her real name?

[Simoni]

Kiwi-- Let me put it this way--we fathers are very protective of our dauthters.  I'll simply share that her Russian name is Masha.


And in terms of second language learning, the NY Times had an interesting piece this week that shows that people who know and use two languages may have certain health advantages:


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=The%20Bilingual%20Advantage&st=cse


Another tidbit:


"As we did our research, you could see there was a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children processed language. We found that if you gave 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, monolingual and bilingual children knew, pretty much, the same amount of language.
[/color]But on one question, there was a difference. We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important."

[Simoni]

We see many changes as we walk around the city of Dnepr.   I thought it might be fun to share some of these things; some things that have not changed and some that are different.


Five years ago I took a picture of a male and female footprint in concrete--that said "Together Forever" in Ukrainian.   The RWD web designers took that image and used it on the opening page of RWD.  It's still used today.


We walked to the place I took the original shot.  Yes, it's still there, and unchanged :-)


However, it is joined by a new lover's image (see below). This one says "We Love Dnepr."   Done in chalk, it is on the embankment wall.

[Simoni]

I always rented a flat on European Square on my visits.  Beside the square stood a beautiful church with unique green domes--The Holy Trinity Cathedral, Свято-Троицкий собор.

The first picture is from 2006; the second was taken today. Notice that two of the green domes are now gold.

An improvement?  Not to me.  I like the way it looked before :-)
But I suspect most here will like the Gold Domes better...

[Simoni]

The sun is setting here, and I have a direct view of the church.


I am half a mile away; this shot is from our bedroom window....


I think I am changing my mind--it's simply beautiful.


Next up in the series of Then and Now:  BABES!

[Muzh]

Woo Hoo!

[Simoni]

Next up: Babes! :-)


If you look at the girl on red on the RWD home page, it's a pic I shot four years ago.


We'll compare her and others with the girls on the street of Dnepr today :-)


Tacky, huh?  LOL

[Simoni]

America is filled with beautiful women.


But nothing compares with what you see in the streets and malls of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.


Why is this so?  Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But I'd say I see beauty for three major reasons:


~  Genes.   These blond haired, tall, blue eyed girls have been here for generations.


~  Clothes.  These girls dress to the hilt, wearing sexy high heels and amazing clothes.  My wife remarked about this as well; here it is style.  At home it would be over the top. She shares she simply can't dress like this in Connecticut.   I like this norm :-)


~ Attitude.  These girls know they are beautiful and walk and hold themselves accordingly.  It's the same attitude that makes a great runway model.


Here is the Homepage of RWD, showing the girl in the classy red dress I shot 4 years ago.  That was THEN.


Next we will share what my camera is catching NOW.

[Hammer2722]

Great pics Simoni!!! I'm really enjoying your entire TR. I love the curls on your little girl! I too have curly hair when I let my hair grow too long. My Lena is hoping our future children will have hair like mine as she adores curly hair too!!!!

[Simoni]

Here is the original shot of the girl in red, as well as one more I posted THEN...

[Simoni]

Great pics Simoni!!! I'm really enjoying your entire TR. I love the curls on your little girl! I too have curly hair when I let my hair grow too long. My Lena is hoping our future children will have hair like mine as she adores curly hair too!!!!

Thanks very much, Hammer.  I enjoyed your trip report very much!


Simoni

[Turboguy]

Simoni, its nice to see  you posting again.  Your daughter is beautiful and I am sure she brings a lot of joy to your life.  I went to a lot of places in my search and always thought Dnepr was one of the best cities I ever went to.  The city center was great and I loved the riverwalk.  I am enjoying your posts.

[Rubicon]

Genes, Clothes and Attitude.  I like that description of Ukrainian/Russian women Simoni.  Very well put.  I also like your descriptions and photos of the city.  I hope that in my future travels I get to visit Dnepro.

[Simoni]

Simoni, its nice to see  you posting again.  Your daughter is beautiful and I am sure she brings a lot of joy to your life.  I went to a lot of places in my search and always thought Dnepr was one of the best cities I ever went to.  The city center was great and I loved the riverwalk.  I am enjoying your posts.

Thanks for the compliments on our daughter, Turbo.  And yes, Denpr is a great city. I'm glad my wife is from Dnepr rather than some of the dusty places i have visited in my travels.


In fact, Dnerp is my favorite UA city, and I'm loving our time here.   Had dinner out tonight with several of her old classmates and it was one of the finest meals I have ever eaten.  Good place, good times.

[Simoni]

Genes, Clothes and Attitude.  I like that description of Ukrainian/Russian women Simoni.  Very well put.  I also like your descriptions and photos of the city.  I hope that in my future travels I get to visit Dnepro.

You should plan a visit, Rubicon.  And if you do, let me know and I'll help you make some connections here.

[Simoni]

Next up: Babes! :-)


If you look at the girl on red on the RWD home page, it's a pic I shot four years ago.


We'll compare her and others with the girls on the street of Dnepr today :-)


Tacky, huh?  LOL

Ok, time to get back to this series.  Had a couple of busy nights-- disco last night and friends for dinner tonight.


Earlier I posted a couple of babe pics from 5 years ago.  My question is "are girls better or worse looking" than what I saw then?   


Here are some pics I shot this week; what do you think?


Have looks deteriorated these last 5 years, like some of the roads here have?